Lost Royalty
by AriaofYlisse
Summary: Based on the premise of twin Morgans. After the birth of the royal twins, Morgan and Mara, Chrom and the Avatar set out to search for their alone and missing daughter. From the perspective of the highly suspicious pegasus knight, Mara (my avatar's female Morgan twin). Dealing with the time warp struggle.
1. Chapter 1

Mara hated running. Any day of the week she'd pick swooping around on Calypso over sprinting through thick forest brush. But she didn't really have a choice. She wanted her pegasus safe from these dastards chasing her, and she was certain she could outwit them herself. She hoped.

"Wait! Mara, please!"

Chills spiked down Mara's back. _How the hell do they know my name?_ She turned her head as she ran but the couple was still far behind her. And gaining quickly it seemed. Mara coughed as she ran, chiding herself for not taking the time to do more ground training. _This is what you get for lazing around on a pegasus all day, Mara_. She took a sharp left and hid behind a tree to catch her breath.

It finally occurred to her stubborn brain that she couldn't run forever. She looked to the sky for Calypso, though the attempt was hopeless. The canopy above was swathed in branches. _Damn,_ she thought, _now what?_ She couldn't fight them off—not without Calypso—she wasn't strong enough on her own. Mara again chided her lack of training.

"Mara!?" the man yelled.

They were closer than she anticipated.

 _I need a vantage point_. Mara's heart throbbed in her breast. She again looked to the sky. No Calypso—but something else dawned on her.

Mara reached up and tested the strength of the lowest bough of the tree that hid her. _Good enough,_ she decided. Footsteps pounded the earth; she heard the snapping of nearby bramble. Her hands gripped the sap coated branches. She scaled her way about 15 feet up, and just in time.

Mara could hear their panicked conversation almost right below her. She slunk close to the tree's trunk, hoping the leaves and darkness concealed her well enough.

"Did we lose her?" the woman was more out of breath than she.

"We couldn't have! She was just in our sight…" the man barely wheezed, but he looked dazed and lost.

"Should we keep running?" her voice was oddly timid.

The man sighed. "I don't know…she's smart, I don't know if she would've kept going."

The woman thought, then "Probably hid somewhere."

The man nodded, "Right."

Mara hugged closer to the tree, holding her breath for a moment. _Naga keep me safe_. All was suddenly silent. She took that time to sneak a glance at her assailants.

The man swayed in muddy boots. His clothes looked expensive; dark navy with embroidery of gold and lots of golden rivets and folds. A white cape—torn to shreds at the bottom—was secured to his back by a silver broach. His shaggy hair was an equally dark blue. Mara would've thought him handsome had he not been chasing her.

The woman's most striking feature was her eyes. They glowed, despite the darkening sky, with a soft intelligence—they were almost warm, giving Mara a false sense of security. Her clothing looked modest. Her blouse was a light blue with darker stripes at the sides. Her slick, black pants tucked neatly into a pair of shiny leather riding boots. Mara wondered where the woman's mount was.

Mara furrowed her brow. The people intrigued her. They had the audacity to chase her into the woods, but their voices held no cynical tone. Their stances were relaxed, not battle ready at all. She was almost interested to see what they wanted from her.

A sharp sound broke Mara's pondering.

"Aria?" the man asked softly.

An intense pain sprouted in the back of Mara's head—it was the same pain she felt whenever she tried to remember something. She forced herself to concentrate through the strain. She peered at them using her peripheral vision.

A few slick tears slid down Aria's face.

"What's wrong?" the man asked again, a bit more forcefully. He approached the woman and ran a hand through her blonde hair.

She shook her head, "I can't…"

"What?"

"I can't look anymore, Chrom."

Mara had heard that name before, but where eluded her. Trying to remember only gave her a stronger headache.

"But—Mara needs us, Aria."

Mara almost scoffed. _Who do you think you are?_ she thought.

"I know, I know…But we've been searching so long and…she seems so fine without us. I-I almost feel bad for tracking her down. I can't imagine how confused she is," Aria wiped her nose with her sleeve.

"I know but—she's our daughter. We can't well leave her be, can we?"

Mara nearly fell from her perch.

"What the hell…" she whispered uncontrollably.

Chrom looked up to where Mara hid. She dared not breathe. His eyes searched for a moment, then went back to his wife.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

The sniffling woman rubbed the tears from her eyes. She looked at the ground, then followed Chrom's momentary gaze to her supposed daughter. Aria squinted.

"Mara?" she yelled up at the tree.

Mara cursed herself within an inch of her life. She labored her breathing even more, as if that could make her disappear again. She hugged the trunk of the tree, trying to shimmy around the back of the monstrous limb.

"MARA!" the exclamation made her lose her concentration.

And her balance.

Mara's right foot slipped from the branch and a loud rustle shook the tree. She cursed herself again, but she didn't have long for that. With her balance gone, Mara had no hope in hiding—or even staying in the tree for that matter.

Her left foot slipped and Mara fell through the open air. The branches she crashed through luckily slowed her fall, but the impact was still enough to knock her out.


	2. Chapter 2

She woke to find herself tucked in a bed of leaves next to a crackling fire. Night had long since fallen, leaving sprays of stars to reach out through the gaps in the forest canopy. Breathing in she could smell the mouth-watering scent of charred meat. Her lips were parched with thirst.

Despite her fall, she had little more than a few small scratches. _Odd_ , she thought. In fact, she felt better than she had in weeks. Her tight back felt much less strain, and the festering cut that had been refusing to heal on her forearm was now just a little scar.

She lifted her dreary head, confused and wary.

"Mara?" the voice was soft and gentle.

Mara jolted upward, sending a wave of vertigo through her body.

"Where!?" she panted, frantically searching around her.

The man, Chrom, and his wife, Aria, sat around the other side of the fire, munching on bear meat. Aria stood, healing staff in hand.

Was _that_ why she was feeling so good? Had this woman healed her? And _why_?

"Peace, child, you're safe here. Are you hungry?" the blue-haired man extended a leg with a chunk of meat clinging to it.

"Child?" Mara's voice stung the air, but she was starving. She snatched the meat from his hand before he could repent his offer and gnawed the leg to the bone.

The man smirked, yet there was pain in his eyes.

"What do you remember, Mara?" he gently pressed.

Mara wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Why don't _I_ ask the questions?" The man flinched, she continued, "Who are you and what do you want?"

The blonde woman took a step forward, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder.

"We're—uh—Ylisseans. Are you familiar with Ylisse?" she asked.

Mara thought. She vaguely remembered the halidom—she'd heard of it here and again since the day she woke up with amnesia. She tended to avoid public appearances when she could, but her scant trips to town had earned her little tidbits of gossip.

She shrugged, "Heard of it," she said casually, "rumors of war here and there. I tend to stay out of things."

"Right…" Aria flit her eyes to the man, Chrom. They both looked displeased.

"Uh, well as for names, I'm Aria and…" she looked unsure.

"I am Chrom—ruler of Ylisse," his eyes shone. "Exalt," he added.

Mara stared at the strange man. _A king?_

"Chrom!" Aria complained. "wait to tell her lightly…" she grumbled.

"Erm, she had to know at some point, right?" he blushed.

"I-I, wait. I don't…?" Mara glanced back and forth between the two feverishly. "You don't look…" She was flustered.

"Like royalty?" Chrom's laugh was warm as the summer night. "We get that a lot."

Mara felt the will to laugh along, but she forced it down. The man and woman made her feel comfortable, which was unacceptable. She still had no way of knowing if they were telling the truth. Her brow furrowed.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

They looked at each other.

"I-well-uhhhhmm…"

"Chrom, let me."

"What—?"

Aria began rustling in a pouch at her side. From it, she pulled an envelope and handed it to Mara to examine.

"What is that?" Chrom asked.

"An Ylissean royal decry—inside at least. The seal on the outside is one only used by our house. It bears the mark of Naga; a symbol of our nation's royals. You may recognize it, Mara," Aria explained, both to Mara and her husband.

Chrom nodded, "Smart."

Aria winked at him.

Mara held the envelope up in the firelight. The seal, stamped into blue wax, was something like a teardrop design. The writing was leafed in gold. Skimming her fingers across the surface revealed the rich thickness of the papers. It was addressed from the Ylissean royal house to some noble court.

"Wow," Mara said, dulling her tone to hide her amazement.

"Proof enough?" Aria asked.

Mara thought, then nodded.

"But why me? I mean, what are you doing _here_?" Mara was afraid of the answer she was about to get.

Chrom took a step into the puttering light of the fire and gestured to a marking on his right shoulder. It was the same image as the one stamped into the seal. "Do you see this birthmark, here? It's the blessing mark of the goddess Naga—all those born into my bloodline carry this mark."

"We believe you have one, Mara," Aria's voice was singed with honey. "In your right eye, to be exact."

Mara's hand traveled instinctively up to her face. She was never one to indulge in self-image, but she enjoyed brushing out her hair when she had the time of day. The mark—it occurred to her—was the same as the one that branded her own eye. She'd seen it a thousand times, seared into the reflection of her image.

"How..?"

"You are of Ylissean blood, Mara," Chrom soothed. "You-you're our daughter."

"I…where have you been? Why am I only meeting you now? Why can't I remember anything?" her head began to ache again.

"Don't push it, Mara. Amnesia runs in our family," Aria cooed.

"We would've come for you sooner if we'd known you existed," Chrom said.

And that pushed her over the edge. Tears spiked Mara's eyes. Her hands balled into fists.

"How did you _not_ know I existed? Did you not give birth to me? Did you not hold me as I was brought into this world?" Mara felt herself spiral out of control.

"Mara, that's not it at all," Aria quelled, a melancholy intensity filling her tone. "You were born in this time only six months ago."

Tears bolted down Mara's cheekbones. Her heart hurt. And her brain did especially. Nothing made sense, nothing pieced together, nothing clicked. She felt more lost than when she woke up in that field with nothing more than the armor on her back and a wounded pegasus.

"What does that even _mean_!?" she pushed the palms of her hands into her eye sockets to stop the tears.

"You're…from the future Mara. The travel wiped your memory—or at least we assume." Chrom frowned, fiddling with the hilt of a long sword at his side—Mara was surprised she hadn't noticed it until then. "We know little more than you at this point."

"Why are you _torturing_ me like this?" that's what it felt like to her: mental torture.

"Mara, please, I know how scary this all is. I went through something similar almost five years ago…Just look at the information we've given you," Aria stopped a moment, tears nearly brimming her own eyes. "We're your family and we love you, but—if it's too much we can come back later…or you don't ever have to talk to us again."

Aria swallowed hard, "If you don't want."

A disgruntled sob escaped from Mara's lips. She wished she could blame her tears on the blaring sun, but it wasn't near dawn.

"I-I don't know what I want," she choked.

All became silent. The only sound was the light crackling of the fire.

"Mara, it may help if you'd come to visit the palace. You can see your brother and sister and—" Chrom started.

" _Brother_?" Mara was about to puke. "Gods…" she had exhausted herself; she flopped back onto her bed of leaves.

"Whatever decision you make, Mara, is fine by us," her broken voice told another story. Aria continued. "If you want to come see you—the palace and can't wait to turn tail and run, that's fine."

Silence again.

"Is that what you want? Me to visit?" Mara asked finally.

"Of course, yes. You could see where we believe you belong and…and maybe seeing _our_ Mara—of _this_ time—will show you we aren't the callous madmen you think we are," Aria replied, trying to put strength in her conviction.

Mara stared at her feet.

"I'll…go," she pronounced with difficulty. Her voice was barely even a whisper.

"You will? That's great!" Chrom blurted.

" _But_." Mara stopped him in his tracks. "I travel alone. In the skies, on my pegasus, totally free of restraint of any kind." She pointed upward to the clouds.

Aria smiled warmly, "As you wish."

"Right! You can follow us from above. We'll be riding from below." Chrom enthused.

"Do you have a mount?" Mara asked.

"Yes, of course—I'm a Valkyrie, so my horse is never far. We left her with our escort just a town out." Aria explained.

"How far out is your reign?"

"About a two day trip."

"Let's go then."

They'd packed and set out upon the dawn of the new day.


	3. Chapter 3

Mara felt immediate relief when she'd boarded Calypso and took to the air. Her pegasus seemed relieved herself to see Mara. Calypso had nearly swooped down on her, practically ramming into her at full speed and nuzzling her head into the girl's hands.

"I'm alright, we're okay," she'd assured the graceful beast.

It'd taken a few minutes to settle her, but once Calypso had calmed they were off into the skies.

And all was normal.

Mara indulged herself in the cool rush of wind as they soared. She gripped Calypso's reigns until her knuckles turned white. The pegasus's caramel hair swished in the breeze, flying back against Mara's chest and tickling her chin. She stroked the mare's long neck as she guided her.

Below her Chrom and Aria rode on Aria's horse, Hadley—a majestic black stallion with a white snout and feet (a trait supposedly associated with good luck). On occasion she would see a tiny figure glance up to see if she was still following. Mara admitted she wanted nothing more than to pull around Calypso's reigns and fly away, but something kept her at bay. Something inside her wanted to see her "home", and see where she was supposed to "belong". So she followed.


	4. Chapter 4

Mara was exhausted again. Information swirled in her head—flickering images of lost relatives, friends, and an enormous daunting palace, rolling hills and pockets of overpopulated villages. When she'd finally been allowed to rest, she found herself unable to shut her eyes. Dueling with her restless mind, Mara threw the extravagant covers off her extravagant bed and slipped from the room.

The air in the hall was cool, and her clammy feet stuck slightly to the marble floor as she walked. Mara's eyes drooped. Yawning, she rubbed her face and continued down the columned way. She wasn't entirely sure where she was going, but she didn't really care—she was too tired to.

Mara turned a corner and found herself at a dead end. There was a single room in the corridor. The door was painted white with a lovely blue dove dotting the center. A soft sound emulated from behind it. Mara approached the door and laid her ear against the smooth wood. The voice was gentle and warm.

"Good night, sleep tight," the voice hummed. "Dream sweet dreams, for me…"1

The comforting song flowed over Mara, she felt calmer and even more tired.

"Dream sweet dreams, for you…"

Every syllable sent Mara further into a dream. She couldn't remember a time where she'd felt so relaxed and loved.

"Good night, sleep tight…" the sugared voice drifted off, becoming quieter than before.

And it stopped.

Mara heard the door knob turn and quickly backed away from the door. The door swung wide. Aria stood in the framework. She was barefoot, wearing a colorful pair of pajama pants and a cotton T-shirt. The room behind her was blue and filled with colorful toys, carpets, and chairs.

Aria's eyes widened as she saw Mara but her tone remained soft, "Mara, what are you doing up? Is everything alright?"

Mara nodded, "I couldn't sleep so I took a walk." She thought for a moment then said, "I heard someone singing and…"

Mara stopped. She was still wary of this woman, and she wasn't sure she wanted to share her feelings. Aria seemed to understand, though. Her lips curled into a careful smile as she gazed at Mara through the dark.

"It's a lullaby my mother used to sing to me—my only memory of my past, really. I sing it to calm the babies when they're restless," Aria explained.

Mara smiled against her will.

"Hopefully it didn't sound _too_ awful. I don't usually have a cohesive audience," Aria laughed, trying desperately to break the silence.

"No, no. It was lovely. I-It's a very calming tune," Mara tried not to oversell her feelings.

"Hmph, good."

Quiet.

"Mara?"

"Yes?"

"Did you recognize the song by any chance? Sometimes music resonates more than any face…"

Mara couldn't lie; she told her the truth. "I—think I did. It made me feel so calm and relaxed and…" she held her breath a moment. "Home."

"This _is_ your home, Mara. Even if you doubt your connection to this place, you're still welcome here. Always." Aria laid a hand on Mara's shoulder.

"Thank you," she said softly, looking into Aria's earthen eyes.

Aria smiled brighter and rubbed Mara's shoulder. Mara was rapt to her golden irises; they were so calm and reassuring. She felt as if she had stared into them a million times before.

Mara was afraid, but something far back in her head clicked. And this woman felt no longer like a stranger, but her like her long-awaited mother.

"Thank you, mother."

Aria's head cocked slightly and her sad eyes turned longing, "Oh, Mara…"

They embraced. Mara buried her face into her mom's shoulder. She smelled of sugar, flowers, and all things kind. Aria stroked Mara's tangled blonde hair. They could feel each other's hearts, beating in a syncopated rhythm.

When they separated, Aria patted Mara's cheek and said, "Get some sleep." She kissed her forehead. The affection turned Mara's face pink.

Each went back to their chambers, and though Mara's bed was still strange and new, it felt a little softer now. A little warmer. She drifted off the moment she hit the pillow.


End file.
